"Under Labour, pay and perks for town hall bosses went through the roof," he said. "Too many dodgy deals were struck behind closed doors, with pay inflation fuelled by headhunters on commission and by boomerang bosses going from council to council hiking their pay.

"Cutting down on senior pay is a way that councils can save taxpayers' money. In these times of paying off Labour's deficit, town hall bosses should consider following government ministers and take a pay cut to lead by example."

As disclosed by The Daily Telegraph last month, the public sector employee with the biggest remuneration package in 2009–10 was Phil Dolan, the outgoing chief executive of South Somerset district council.

Despite running one of the country's smaller local authorities, Mr Dolan received £569,000 in pay, pension and redundancy payments.

Wiltshire county council also made substantial six–figure payments to several executives who were leaving the authority.

The councils with the most employees on six–figure packages were named as Cornwall and Newcastle upon Tyne, each with 32 people who earned more than £100,000 last year.

Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Councils should be scouring every inch of their expenditure to identify savings, so taxpayers will be staggered that so many council employees are still getting such a generous deal."

Many councils are threatening to cut local services, claiming that reductions in central government funding is unsustainable.

However, ministers say councils should make savings by cutting unnecessary expenditure, including executive salaries.

The Government recently announced plans to name council workers earning more than £58,000 and for councillors to be able to veto six–figure pay packages.

Councils are currently attempting to block government plans to reduce taxpayer support for public sector pensions.